Guest: Alisa Maute, Executive Managing Director, Head of Client Development at Mercer Advisors. Mercer was named the #1 RIA in the 2025 Barron’s Top 100 Rankings.
In a nutshell: Building a sustainable organic growth engine is one of the biggest challenges and greatest opportunities facing advisory firms today. But much of the industry’s growth is concentrated among the very top firms. Smaller RIAs who aspire to join their ranks need a plan for systematizing their processes and deepening their connection to their clients.
On today’s show, Alisa Maute shares how Mercer structures its client development organization across three distinct channels: community-based development, custodial partnerships, and direct-to-consumer marketing. We also discuss some of the key KPIs that top firms track and some underrated growth levers that RIAs often overlook.
.Alisa Maute and I discuss:
- How Mercer separates business development from advice delivery so all team members can focus on what they do best.
- The role that firm culture plays in client acquisition.
- Why organic growth is so unevenly distributed among RIAs right now.
- Mercer’s detailed process for matching new clients to a best-fit advisor.
- The broad array of services Mercer offers to create a “one-stop shop” for clients’ financial needs.
- The “ownership mindset” and commitment to representation that drive Mercer’s unique culture.
- How to systematize referrals.
Alisa Maute on the state of organic growth:
“The way we think about it is really your existing operations. So new clients joining the firm, plus your existing clients looking at share of wallet expansion. But of course, you have to take out any distributions that they’re taking from RMDs as well as any of the clients that are leaving the firm altogether. We don’t look at market appreciation or, frankly, relying on acquisitions. And I think when you look at it that way, industry-wide organic growth has been pretty modest. I’ve seen studies that show organic growth around 2.5-5.5%. Really we’ve got a little bit of a structural growth problem going on here in the industry. And so much of it is being masked by the markets and the revenue that all these advisors are driving right now because of market appreciation. Now that being said, there is a segment of the market that’s doing very well. The Schwab 2025 RIA Benchmarking Study came out a few weeks ago, and if they look at firms over $250 million in assets under management, that top quartile of firms is showing organic growth over 12%, which is nearly double what we’re seeing across the industry. So there’s definitely pockets of firms that are doing really, really well.”
Alisa Maute on the three technologies RIAs should invest in more:
“ The first one would be around SEO and content strategy. Sometimes they’re neglecting keyword targeting, technical optimization, and tailored content creation. And if you think about that channel, what’s good about it is that it’s attracting high-intent prospects. These are people who are actively looking for financial advice and searching things out on the web.
“The second one, which is kind of a head-scratcher, is your current clients. Oftentimes we see people who are so focused on finding and bringing in new clients into their business that they’re forgetting about deepening relationships with their existing ones, and they’re missing opportunities for those referrals, upselling, and retention. As I think about the industry right now, what is your value proposition? Are you serving clients holistically and really being thoughtful around that so you can really generate more of those referrals? It’s easier to generate a referral and lower-cost than going out and finding a new client.
“And then the final technology is digital communities, social media. Typically it’s seen as a ‘nice to have’ in a lot of the different RIAs that I speak to. But we’re seeing a lot of success in that space because really these platforms are building trust and visibility and credibility even before the prospect meets us. How are people finding you when they need a financial advisor? More and more, I’ve seen studies saying people are starting online more so than they ever have in the past. And so if you’re not there online and you’re not there on the social media channels, you’re missing out on opportunities.”
Alisa Maute on building a strong foundation for growth:
“It starts with your current clients and making sure you’re delivering exceptional service. That you are indispensable to your current clients in their lives, and that you’re not giving them a reason to go find other providers because everything you’re doing is holistic. From there, thinking about how do you build multi-channel growth levers. I’ve seen industry studies that say the most successful advisors have over seven different growth levers working at once. You have to be intentional about the strategy. You have to know what you’re measuring to make sure that the strategy’s working, and you have to be willing to invest into the strategy as well. And then finally, just track, measure, iterate, and continue to try new things. Make sure you have a strong foundation. Put a great plan in place that has a multi-pronged approach to growth. And then make sure you’re tracking and iterating along the way.”
